New Website Provides Farming Insight

Through a new interactive farm and ranch experience,  www.KnowACaliforniaFarmer.com, people can get to meet hundreds of growers throughout the nation’s number one agricultural state. They represent farms and ranches small and large, organic and traditional. They are the people who actually produce the food we eat.

At www.KnowACaliforniaFarmer.com, California farmers and ranchers post personal photos, upload videos and write interesting blogs about real agriculture in California. Meet former roadie-turned-dairy-farmer Dino Giacomazzi as he shares his passion for the family business, which has been around since 1893. Read Jennifer Thompson’s blog where “talking grapes” is her second language and she will explain why California grapes make the best wine in the world.

It’s a two-way street at  www.KnowACaliforniaFarmer.com. The farmers and ranchers want to get to know the public, too. Anyone can log on, post comments and ask questions of a real family farmer. The California farmer is an endangered species. Land is expensive, water precious and government regulations overwhelming. Future farmers think twice about following in Dad’s footsteps.

A hundred years ago, 80% of the U.S. population was farmers. That number dropped to 30% 50 years ago. Today, less than 2% work in farming or ranching. Americans are importing more of their food, fewer young farmers are staying on the land and the farming way of life is slowly fading.

Know A California Farmer is an interactive website sponsored by the California Agricultural Communications Coalition (CACC). The CACC is a group of over 120 farmer and rancher membership organizations dedicated to raising awareness about the outlook of multi-generational family farming in California – the nation’s leading agricultural state.